


The Fae With Violet Eyes

by LittleMissLiesmith



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Cake, Gen, M/M, No Romantic Happy Endings, Unrequited Love Hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 17:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2159769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissLiesmith/pseuds/LittleMissLiesmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos Mendez cannot love and is engaged to be married, Cecil Palmer can always repair a broken heart, and Dana Cardinal knows a secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fae With Violet Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Storytime, kids! Last night I wrote a little ficlet while night-drunk. This ficlet totally sucked and also was pretty much entirely copied from the comic. This fact was pointed out to me by someone who, incidentally, was none too polite about it, but they were right. So I went and rewrote and tried again, and again, and now it's hopefully better slash less plagiarized. Hopefully.

Carlos Mendez was engaged to be married.

Theoretically there was no problem with this, and for a while there was no problem with it in practice, either. His fiancee was intelligent and attractive; there was absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever, nothing at all. 

The fault, Carlos Mendez knew, lay entirely in himself. In his inability to love anyone.

But there were places to go for that.

Carlos had never before visited the faerie market; he knew how dangerous it was. There was a BEWARE sign out front; reportedly, no one ever visited the park in the faerie's district and the police watched their every move. Not to mention reports of phenomena like houses that didn't exist, floating animals, and the like. But it was a place where reality and imagination bled together, where the truth blurred and stars only shone in the eyes of the fae.

If anyone in the world could fix a broken heart--physically fix it, in the sort of solid concrete way Carlos admired--they would be found in Night Vale, the faerie's market.

There were rules, of course. Carlos spent several hours in the library of his home looking up what he needed to know. Aside from the rules governing safety in most city's fae markets--don't eat the food, don't fall in love, no iron or crosses, no mirrors--Night Vale had some odd specifics. Don't go in the dog park, no writing utensils, angels don't exist and we know nothing of their celestial hierarchies.

Carlos learned the rules, packed a knapsack with a few days of food and clothing, bid his family and fiancee goodbye, and set off to find the constantly-moving old oak doors that separated the Night Vale faerie market from the rest of Desert Bluffs.

It wasn't as hard for Carlos as it seemed to be for some. Within an hour he was in front of the doors--enormous, oak wood, faintly glowing, and embedded into the wall of an alley where there had most certainly _not_ been doors yesterday. A foot out from the doors was the little sign on its stake, _WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE_ and _BEWARE_ scrawled on it in white paint.

Carlos reached out a hand and hesitantly pushed at the door.

It opened at his touch and Carlos stepped into the street. Behind him, where the doors had been, was a house exactly like the houses on either side; no one else was out and the sky was coal-grey without a sun or stars.

Carlos looked down the street either way and set off to the right, towards a busier section.

-O-

"What are you looking for?"

Carlos spun around in alarm only to see a young, dark-skinned woman wearing a trim red dress and cape that covered her hair. "Oh! Sorry," he said, flustered. "This is my first time here."

The girl chuckled. "Newcomer. Human newcomer, at that. I'm Dana Cardinal and I sell hearts." She lifted the wicker basket she was holding and pushed aside a corner of the white blanket to show Carlos a dozen red heart-shaped objects, gently glowing. Of course, maybe that was how hearts looked in the fae world. "Care to buy one?"

Carlos shook his head. "No, but maybe you can tell me...where would I go to repair one that's been broken?"

Dana pursed her lips and looked at him with an air of sympathy. "Someone broke your heart?"

"No, no. It's just never worked properly."

"Let me see." Dana splayed out the hand not holding the basket on Carlos's chest. He gasped in surprise as she pulled away, a small red heart snapped in two cradled in her palm. "Oh...yes, this is bad," she said, handing it to him. Carlos took it carefully with both hands, vaguely afraid he would drop it. "But if anyone can help you, it'll be Cecil."

"Who's Cecil?" Carlos asked.

"Cecil Palmer, the Heartsmith. I'm his apprentice, actually. He makes new hearts and repairs old ones. He's the only one who can repair anything at all wrong with a heart. No one knows how." Dana shifted her basket so it rested in her elbow and gestured down the street. "He lived down that way. Small place, but you'll know it when you see it."

Carlos bowed, holding his heart to his chest. "Thank you, Miss Dana."

"No need to thank me, I get paid whenever I send a customer down." She grinned. "I hope you find all the happiness you deserve."

Carlos left Dana chatting to a tall man in a tan jacket and headed in the direction she had pointed. After a few minutes of walking (during which time he narrowly avoided being accosted by an old woman selling angel pendants, a man doing impressions, and a half-dozen hooded figures that seemed to want to keep him away from a tall black wall) he found the building Dana was talking about. It _was_ small--red brick, two stories with the top floor clearly an apartment for the owner, large windows to either side of the front door--but said door was covered in elaborate carvings of hearts, the windows were carefully cleaned and glowed with golden light, and a large sign above the door read _Palmer and Cardinal, Heartsmiths_.

Carlos opened the door and a bell chimed. A melodious voice--the kind of voice you could fall in love with if, unlike Carlos, you were the sort to fall in love--called out "Just a minute!" and Carlos stood in the entryway, looking around at the various brassy machines surrounding a workbench, at the counter, at a display case of prettily formed hearts.

After a moment a young man appeared, his white hair pushed back by the red goggles shoved up on his forehead, wiping a rusty red smudge off his cheek with the back of a gloved hand. His violet eyes widened when they fell on Carlos. "Oh, a customer! I'm Cecil." He rubbed the stain off on his apron and held out a hand. "If you're looking to purchase, my apprentice Dana is outside, and she has the hearts on sale."

"Actually, she just sent me here," Carlos said, holding out his heart. "She said you do repairs."

Cecil tilted his head and looked at the shattered little heart. "Oh," he said softly, brushing leather-covered fingertips overtop of it. "That _is_ bad. Did you just recently have it broken?"

Carlos shook his head. "It's always been like this," he said quietly. "I assumed it would begin working given time, but...I am engaged to be married, and still nothing has happened."

Cecil blinked in surprise. "You're engaged? Congratulations!" He took the heart from Carlos and studied it. "This kind of thing would ordinarily take some time, but you're human in a fae realm, so you'll have to leave in a few days if you want to leave at all. I'll do my absolute best to have it ready quickly." He crossed the room and set the heart down on the workbench. "Stop by every so often to see if it's ready. I'm not sure how long it'll take."

Carlos smiled. "I'll be back tomorrow, then. How much do I owe you for it?" He didn't have much, but he figured even the fae might have use for gold or gems, and had brought some along in his knapsack.

Cecil shook his head. "No charge. I sell hearts, but repairs are free. No one should have to live with a broken heart."

As Carlos left the shop, he nearly knocked over the entering Dana. She caught her basket just in time to keep the hearts from spilling out over the street. "Sorry!"

"It's okay," the salesgirl said, picking herself up and dusting off her dress. "How'd it go?"

"It was fine," Carlos said. "He agreed to repair it, but then, that's his _job_ , so..."

Dana shrugged. "Yeah, well, he's refused people before. He might've just taken a shine to you."

Carlos stood completely still for a moment after Dana left, then ran a hand through his mess of unruly curls, adjusted his bag, straightened his lab coat, and left to find an inn.

-O-

The next day Carlos stopped by Cecil's early. "Hello!"

"Hell-ooo, Carlos!" Cecil trilled, waving from the workbench. "Afraid your heart won't be ready _quite_ this fast."

Carlos navigated his way past the machinery until he stood beside the bench. "Actually, I just wanted to see you. I don't exactly know anyone else here."

"Oh, of course! Spend as much time as you like. When you get bored, just go find Dana and she'll point you in the direction of something interesting." Cecil bent over the heart with a neat little set of tools and returned to wake.

Carlos ended up watching the fae with the violet eyes for nearly two hours.

-O-

"Back again? You were just here this morning!"

Carlos held up a pink and white box. "I brought you a cake. I can't eat it myself, I know the rules of fae, but I figured you might enjoy it."

Cecil's eyes widened behind the goggles and he bounded over enthusiastically, opening the box to see the little strawberry shortcake. "Oh! None of my customers has ever brought me cake before!"

"Well, you're repairing my heart for me and not accepting payment. It's the least I can do."

Within a few minutes the two were sitting at a little table in Cecil and Dana's upstairs apartment (decorated entirely in yellow and white, very charming). Cecil had a slice of cake and Carlos had half a loaf of whole-wheat oatmeal bread from home. The fae loaded his fork with cake and shoved it in his mouth, pulling the now-empty fork back out slowly and closing his eyes in bliss. "Mm....that's really good." He cracked open one eye and looked critically at Carlos. "You chew really loudly, you should stop that."

"I do not," Carlos said, muffled by a mouthful of bread. He swallowed and repeated himself. "I do not. How are the repairs going?"

Cecil took another bite of cake and chewed thoughtfully. "Hm..." He swallowed. "About that. Repairing a heart that's been broken is one thing, but to repair a heart that can't love requires--or usually requires--the heart of someone who loves you."

Carlos looked dejected. "My fiancee's back in our world. I don't have anyone here who loved me." He sighed. "My fiancee...deserves much better than what I can be, but I suppose there's nothing that I can do."

Cecil studied him, then set his mouth in a determined line. "Tell you what. Come back tomorrow. I _will_ have your heart fixed."

Carlos looked up hopefully. "Really? How?"

"I'll find a way." Cecil stood. "Thank you for the cake, dear Carlos. Go talk to Dana or study something in town. I have work to do."

Carlos grinned. "I can't thank you enough, Cecil." He picked up his knapsack and headed down the stairs. After a moment Cecil heard the bell.

He looked down at himself and removed his gloves, pressing a hand to his chest and pulling it away to cradle a large, brightly-glowing heart covered in a spiderweb of cracks and repairs. He tapped it and heard a hollow sound, studied it until the light hurt his eyes.

"So much love so quickly," he murmured. "It'll be enough."

-O-

Carlos's heart had a large and obviously-repaired crack on it, but it was glowing intensely.

"Put it in," Cecil urged. "You need to be sure it works."

Carlos hesitantly pressed it to his chest, gasping as it slid into place. "Cecil! I--I don't know what you did, but it _worked_!" He closed his eyes and smiled blissfully. "I can't wait I get home and tell my fiancee--say _I love you_ and mean it!"

Cecil smiled, and it didn't reach his eyes. "I told you I'd fix it."

Carlos pulled him into a hug. "Oh, I wish you could come to my wedding," he said wistfully. "I need to go, need to find the old oak doors--Cecil, I can't thank you enough!"

He left the shop with unfailing cheer. Once the door closed, though, Cecil's smile faded. The fae closed his eyes and sank to his knees, moving back to sit against one of his machines as he felt his heart slowly shattering inside of him.

"Cecil!" came a sharp voice. He looked up to see Dana, her arms crossed. "You can't keep _doing_ this--giving everyone pieces of your heart--soon there won't be anything left!"

"You're one to talk!" he shot back. "Why'd you take this apprenticeship? You don't even _have_ a heart!"

Dana pursed her lips. "I was hoping I could find one here, but two years ago and you still haven't made one that fits _me_!"

Cecil hesitated, then reached for his chest and pulled out his own breaking heart. "Maybe this one will fit you," he said softly. "Maybe you can love with it again. Repair it."

Dana's eyes widened. "Wait, wait. You're just... _giving_ me your heart? But--but people born with hearts can't live without them!"

"I know," Cecil said, even quieter.

Dana crouched down. "Why? Why now?"

Cecil shrugged. "You're able to run this place on your own now. You can help this heart love again. I've met the only person I'd ever want to love and he's a human engaged to be married. Take your pick." He held out his heart. "Hurry. Before it breaks."

Dana room the heart and pressed it to herself, inhaling sharply when it slid inside. "Cecil. Cecil, it fits."

The fae smiled faintly. "Good. That's...that's good." He slumped down further, violet eyes fluttering shut. "You'll make a good Heartsmith, Dana. Just...don't give yourself away like I did."

"I can't promise that," Dana whispered, pressing the back of her hand to Cecil's cheek. "Thank you. I hope you find all the happiness you deserve."

There was no reply.

**Author's Note:**

> Based off this comic:
> 
> http://miyuli.tumblr.com/heartsforsale
> 
> Hopefully not too awfully. Comment if you liked or wish I would rewrite it again. Also tell me any spelling errors as I typed this on an iPod.


End file.
